


How to bring cute puppies inside New Rome

by lilllac



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, These two dorks are best friends, they love each other a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22856392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilllac/pseuds/lilllac
Summary: Nico was bored, all right. But that did not mean he was ready to hear the preator, legendary demigod, blessed by her mother and the greek goddess of wisdom, bearer of a indestructable cape and owner of two mythological hounds, say that:"You've gotta help me, I think I've ruined my apartament with cute puppies!".
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	How to bring cute puppies inside New Rome

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language, but I hope it is still enjoyable to read.

As usual, Nico found the meeting to be absolutely horrible. He hated spending the entire afternoon holed up inside the Senate, listening to each centurion talk about his Cohort's problems. He had spent most of the time poking the straw in his sandals with the tip of a pen, to tell the truth.

Unfortunately, that was part of Reyna's job.

Which meant that Nico couldn't skip.

Nico was leaning against the Senate's exit door while the other centurions withdrew, waiting absently. Reyna and Frank always stayed until a little later, discussing something, and although he was sure that none of them would care if he listened, he was not much interested in the administration issues of Camp Jupiter. He was just there for Reyna. 

And he almost had a heart attack when a firm hand closed around his arm and a hoarse voice sounded.

Nico was bored, all right. But that did not mean he was ready to listen the preator, legendary demigod, blessed by her mother and the greek goddess of wisdom, bearer of a indestructable cape and owner of two mythological hounds that:

"You've gotta help me, I think I've ruined my apartament with cute puppies!".

Reyna got on well with animals, he knew that. Her two metal dogs were a good example, but it weren't just the mythological dogs powered by magic who liked her. When they went out on the streets of San Francisco together, at least six street dogs would come to her her, wagging their tails energetically. Nico liked animals - unlike humans, they did not judge people by appearance, no matter for how many months he didn’t cut his hair or how for many days he hadn't slept - and, while none of the dogs had ever refused to be affectionate to him, they just simply adored the girl.

And, well, Nico thought that the title of horse friend given by the original Pegasus, you know, the one that had came out of Medusa's head, the same immortal horse and who apparently didn't like humans very much, spoke for itself.

Reyna got on well with animals. Animals got on well with her.

"Which doesn't mean you could adopt seventeen dogs at once!" Nico whispered/shouted, making sure Frank couldn't hear "What _happened_ to you?".

"I don't know!" Reyna stamped her foot "I just ... it wasn't just complete impulse either, ok?. I started to bring them here, and when I cmae to my senses ...".

"When you came to your senses, you had a collection of puppies in the same amount of a Myhtomagic deck" Nico added "this is craziness. Where did you put them?"

"In my apartment, of course," she frowned. "Praetors have more spacious rooms, so I thought ...".

She hesitated.

"... that you were going to be able to live with seventeen dogs in the same apartment?" Nico tried to help.

Reyna opened her mouth to answer, but Frank passed by them, saying goodbye, and Nico elbowed her in the ribs. They smiled at the boy, but they must have overdone it, because Frank shook his head, confused, and quickened his pace.

"Why did you smile? You never smile, it's weird. Frank must have thought you were going crazy".

" _Nico_ " Reyna finally raised her voice "I don't know what to do. Today I woke up and Peanut had my armor's breastplate in his mouth. I almost had a heart attack. Not to mention that Popcorn still doesn't know how to differentiate her newspaper from my notes, and ..."

Nico let her speak. He was not surprised by the fact that Rena had already named each of the puppies. To tell the truth, seeing her that way made him more relaxed. Reyna was constantly stressed and busy, with an impassive expression on her face, no matter the occasion. The only moments when she allowed herself to relax were so few that Nico could count on one hand: when she was riding Guido, flying freely across the sky at Camp Jupiter; when she was talking about her pets; and when she was sitting with Nico in Hades' booth, gym shorts, pajama t-shirt and hair down, trying to learn all the levels of attack and defense from the mythomagic deck.

Perhaps the attitude had been a little irresponsible, especially from someone like her. But it was precisely because she who she was, Reyna, that Nico had no intention of scolding her.

"Come on" Nico took her wrist "I want to see how big this damage can be".

The damage was quite large.

They had passed the training camp before, where Will was training with his Roman brothers, and the blond boy gave a shaking laugh when Nico opened the door absently, still absorbed in the conversation with his boyfriend, and a brown-haired poodle jumped off the coffee table right in on face.

Nico released something that sounded a lot like _AAAAAAAAAH_ , although he would never admit it. He tried to hold it, but the dog kept fighting and Nico lost his balance, falling on his ass on the floor.  
"Gods" Will stopped to take a breath "I love your dogs".

"Thank you, William," Reyna replied, taking the compliment very seriously.

"I hate you, William" Nico testified, from where he laid, defeated, on the floor, while the poodle licked his face excitedly.

The last time he had been there, Reyna had five dogs, all adopted (in addition to Aurum and Argentum, of course): Sunshine, who looked like a mix of Labrador with some other breed, which she had rescued from a painful death after being left to die by the person who ran him over, River, a small puppy, with black fur and easily scared, who liked to hide under the couch (Nico liked to give him some snacks because it was so cute to watch him slide away from the upholstery, snatch the food, and come back as if nothing had happened), Collie, a tall dog with a proud face, but who actually came to ask for affection as soon as Nico, Will or Hazel set foot in the apartment, Milk, a big dog, spacious and very fluffy, who needed to stay in the apartment with the air conditioning on at the slightest hint of a hot day (as far as Reyna knew, he had been left behind by a family who had moved to another state). And finally, Nicky, a Siberian husky puppy mixed with a German shepherd, with dark fur and deep black eyes, which Reyna had named after Nico, apparently. He was supposed to be a police dog, Thalia had said when she brought the puppy last summer, but he was just too docile and shy for work, and he would be taken to the shelter.

Nico really liked them. However, even when it was just them, Reyna's apartment was already pretty tight (not that she seemed to mind). All of them had been rescued by her, and Nico knew that the preator had a special affection for each one of them. Most of the legionaries had already gotten used to her image, at the end of dawn, walking around the camp with a set of five collars in her hands.

Now, with twelve more pets added to the family, the place was impossible to live in. They were all over the place, and at least one of them would be barking at all times, the bowls of food were shaken from side to side, spilling grains all over the floor, and water ... heaven, somehow River had managed to get soaked.

Still, Collie pushed her way through the mess to reach Nico, leaning her side against his leg. Nico bent down a little, stroking her muzzle with one hand, while with the other he carefully returned the poodle to the floor.

Reyna started to take off her armor, and the dogs began to jump when they heard the noise. She sighed, defeated. When at last she was only in her black shorts and purple T-shirt, she held the pieces of armor above her head, while two puppies jumped around her, trying to reach them.

"They think it's a toy," Will contemplated. Reyna's expression hardened:

"It's imperial gold"

"You know that" the blonde replied "they don't".

"Okay," she agreed, exasperated. Her eyes met his friend's - And now?

Nico observed the chaos - eh, situation. It was obvious that there was no way that Reyna could keep all those pets without going completely crazy.

Nico lowered his shoulders. With a defeated sigh, he admitted:

"I think I have an idea".

The first attempt went horribly wrong. Even with only six puppies, Nico was having a harder time keeping them under control in Hades' cabin than he thought humanly (or, is it, half-humanly?) possible. One afternoon, he went back to camp to find that the pillow - which he had finally managed to change! - had been completely obliterated by the brown poodle's jaw.

The second attempt went well - until Chiron informed him that one of the tallest dogs was trying to jump and snap the talking head on the wall of the Big House.

"That," he continued, "and the fact that that tall one has already dropped Mr. D on the floor about seven times. I think he is very close to changing her animal status to a dolphin.

Three was, at last, the lucky number.

"Reyna!" Piper exclaimed "she is the most beautiful thing in the world".

The praetor smiled easily. Millie, a dog with heterochromatic eyes and blue-black fur, was very comfortably nestled in the arms of Aphrodite's daughter and seemed very pleased with herself (Nico even wondered if Piper was using charm on the dog because Millie was generally quite aggressive. But he soon concluded that the hypothesis was stupid (Millie only liked the girl very much, apparently).

"She suits you," Percy commented, from where he was sitting on the floor, with Mel licking his face and Lulu jumping on his outstretched legs as if she were in some kind of competition.

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed reprimandly, kneeling at her boyfriend "Stop insulting poor Mille!".

The others laughed while Piper showed her friend her tongue. Then she leaned down until he was at the same height as Vic, the Chihuahua Annabeth held in her arms, and whispered, in a confidential tone:

"I'm sorry for you Vic, for having to move in with such an annoying mom".

While the other demigods laughed and played with the puppies, Nico leaned against the outer wall of Hades' cabin. He felt a smile involuntarily appear on his face.

It was funny how a few puppies, a few more jokes and a lot of teasing made everything feel right again. They were children, ruined by the war, but who were trying, piece by piece, to build themselves again

"And what about you?" Nico nudged Reyna's shoulder "Will you be okay?";

The girl smiled. She came just close enough to lay her head on his shoulder, and let out a breath.

"I'm going to miss them," she admitted, "but I know they'll be happy".

Two weeks later, Nico, Will, and Reyna were walking back from a visit to the symbolic tomb that the boy had made in honor of his mother, on the property of a Catholic Church right there in San Francisco. Nico felt the sunlight on his face as his ice cream melted in one hand.

Will told some joke that made Reyna laugh like she rarely did, and they stopped at a bench to chat for a while.

One minute.

One minute was all it took the first puppy to approach her.

Reyna's eyes widened. Will burst out laughing. The rest of Nico's ice cream just melted and fell straight into his pants.

When Reyna started stroking the little dog's gray fur head and looked at him with those dark, shiny eyes, almost as cute as the puppy, Nico knew it wouldn't make any difference to try and argue.

Dressed in his usual set of black clothes and an equally dark robe, Nico tried to sound as serious as possible in front of the entire Roman legion, in their looming armors and features, while presenting the idea of an animal shelter.

Which was, of course, completely broken by Jason's exclamation:

"Like, cute puppies at Camp ?! That's the best idea I've ever heard!".

The Romans could be stoic and impassive, but, looking over his shoulder at Reyna and Frank, who had given their most sincere approvals, Nico concluded that there were not many people in the world, Greek, Roman, or New York teenager (or even a grumpy wine god) that could resist the idea of cute little puppies running around.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never used the word puppy so much.  
> Coments are always appreciated.


End file.
